Fantastic

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT FANTASTIC - PAGE 5

Union Terrace Elementary School and the Allentown School District are being cited for "overcrowding" by Allentown Fire Department. Chief Ernest Toth said yesterday the citation, "only a warning this time," stems from the fact that "about 100 people were standing in the aisles" for the school's Christmas program Monday evening. "We don't want to appear like Scrooge, but that many people in the aisles posed a serious safety problem," said the chief, adding, "Had there been a fire, there would have been panic and disaster."

Irene D. Van Driesen, 80, of Cresco, died Feb. 9, in her home. She was the widow of Alviron A. Van Driesen. Born on Feb. 16, 1925 in Waymart, she was a daughter of the late Carl and Florence (Carpenter) Spangenberg and lived in Barrett Township since 1948. Irene worked in the Barrett Township Elementary School cafeteria since 1961 where she was manager for many years. She was a member of the Canadensis United Methodist Church and its Circle of Friends; was a Girl Scouts leader for many years and was a fantastic cook.

The Adventures of Shark Boy and Lava Girl in 3-D Robert Rodriguez's headache-inducing misuse of 3-D centers on a lonely 10-year-old (Cayden Boyd) who dreams up an imaginary world (Planet Drool) protected by superheroes Shark Boy (Taylor Lautner) and Lava Girl (Taylor Dooley). PG (mild action and some rude humor). 1 hr. 25 mins. Batman Begins Having witnessed his parents' murder, the Caped Crusader (Christian Bale) uses that guilt and anger as the inspiration for his nighttime forays.

By John Heilig Special to The Morning Call - Freelance | March 15, 2008

Area District 11 Class 3A swimmers mined gold Wednesday and Thursday at Bucknell University's Kinney Natatorium. On Friday, the local Class 2A girls took to the water and wasted no time in taking their share of the precious metal -- in the first event. Central Catholic sophomore Catherine Rose overcame a slight mistake in her first dive to win the girls 2A diving championship with a score of 421.65. It was the first time since the early 1990s that a District 11 diver won a championship, according to Rose's coach, Cory Lehman.

Employees at the Carbon County maintenance office of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation were honored yesterday by their superiors for having a perfect safety record for more than four years. The 75 employees at the maintenance office, at South 9th and Bridge streets, Lehighton, have attained a perfect record of not losing a day of work because of an accident for 1,598 days. The employees, including some who were transferred to the Monroe County maintenance office last year, were guests of the district at a luncheon at noon yesterday in the Main Gate Inn, Lehighton.

Darcie Vincent liked what she saw almost immediately during that summer event at American University. The only problem was that Megan Storck didn't have the same enthusiasm. California University of Pennsylvania? "To tell you the truth, I had never even heard of it," Storck said. Five hours away? "I was looking at schools closer to home Hofstra, Hartford, Bloomsburg, Millersville," she said. "[Vincent] contacted me a couple of times, tried to get me out for a visit.

ELTON JOHN Elton John wasn't his old outrageous self last weekend at Reading's Sovereign Center. The 57-year-old entertainer wore a smartly sparkling suit instead of a mad Mozart outfit. He placed a foot on a piano lid instead of pounding the keys with his feet. Instead of playing Captain Fantastic, he simply captained a show with fantastic moments, one that justified a 9,000-seat sellout in 10 minutes. There were no dead spots in a 25-song, 135-minute concert that took place 12 days after John opened a three-year, $50 million gig with a Las Vegas casino.

To the Editor: A few weeks ago I attended a viewing of the film, "The Prodigal," which is currently showing in the Lehigh Valley until April 5. I found it to be a fantastic film dealing with situations that I could relate to, and ones that many other people may have experienced. Unfortunately, I learned that when people heard the title they became immediately turned off to the idea of seeing it. Most people feel as though they'd be wasting their time and money seeing "some religious-freak film."

By Joe Warminsky III, special to The Morning Call - Freelance | August 17, 2002

(Def Jux) Every beat El-P touches becomes a grimy galaxy unto itself, and the producer/rapper saved some truly disorienting stuff for "Fantastic Damage," his first solo disc. The Company Flow co-founder also has reams of intelligent verbiage floating around in his cerebral cortex, but he's more skilled at focusing his sonics than his lyrics. The words don't always get in the way, however. "Fantastic Voyage's" mind-melting rhythms and weapons-grade samples are too distinctive to be faded by El-P's occasionally impenetrable ramblings.